The present invention relates to viquariums and, in particular, to a structure which may be employed to create a viquarium.
Aquariums and terrariums have long been used for decorative and informational purposes. Aquariums provide an opportunity for individuals to maintain and observe various forms of aquatic life on a daily basis. Terrariums, on the other hand, provide an opportunity to view terrestrial plant and animal life. A drawback of each, however, is that each is unable to support the life of the other for any length of time. Terrestrial life cannot survive in the environment of an aquarium just as aquatic life cannot survive in a terrarium. In addition, amphibious life, which requires both land and earth to survive, is unable to thrive solely in an aquarium or in a terrarium.
Viquariums, also know as vivariums or aquaterrariums, consist of a container such as a tank with both an aquarium portion and a terrarium portion and provide an opportunity to support and observe aquatic, terrestrial and amphibious life. A number of patents discuss various forms of viquariums. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,805 discloses a vivarium in which the aquarium and the terrarium chambers are separated by an expansion chamber for refilling and circulating the aquarium water. U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,620 discloses a vivarium in which the terrarium floor is affixed to one wall of the tank such that the floor extends outward over the aquarium portion. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,004 discloses a self-contained ecosystem in which an aquarium portion rests upon a cabinet and a terrarium portion exists above the aquarium.
A major drawback of such pre-existing viquariums is that they do not provide the user with an alternative by which he or she may utilize their current aquarium as a viquarium. As millions of aquariums are currently in use, it would be inefficient, inconvenient and costly for the owner of an aquarium to purchase a new tank for a viquarium instead of being able to convert their existing aquarium into a viquarium. Another drawback of viquariums is that all rely on separate, external filtration as a means for cleaning the water. A further drawback is that most present systems disclose large, bulky units which would not be capable of use in the commonly utilized smaller tanks, such as ten gallon size tanks. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a structure which may be placed within a tank, and especially a relatively small tank, to allow a user to construct a viquarium.
The present invention features a molded structure which may be placed within a tank such as an aquarium to provide separate land and water areas which are capable of providing realistic and healthy living environments for fish, amphibians and reptiles. Preferably, the structure is molded such that it simulates realistic land and water environments. For example, the water area preferably provides the cliff and cave-like areas preferred by aquatic life. On the other hand, the interface between the land and water portions is preferably sloped in portions to provide an amphibian friendly surface, while the land area may include depressions for the maintenance of plant life. In the preferred embodiment, the back and underside of the unit is hollow to incorporate a filter media, pump, heater, additional aeration device or any other such desired apparatus. In an especially preferred embodiment, small openings are provided along the base to allow water to be drawn through the gravel in front of the unit to provide additional filtration.